Best Babywearing Outreach Program to Women in Need

Ashtabula County, Ohio, WIC Program!

Read the press release:

Ashtabula County WIC Program Wins Award for Best Babywearing Outreach Program to Women in Need

The Ashtabula County, Ohio, Women, Infants and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program is the winner of the Best Babywearing Outreach Program to Women In Need from the nonprofit organization Babywearing International, Inc., as part of its International Babywearing Week 2009 awards program.

The term “babywearing” means carrying a baby or young child using a cloth baby carrier. Babywearing allows parents to have both hands free while carrying their children, and research indicates that this practice has numerous benefits for children.

A study published in the journal Pediatrics in 1986 found that 6-week-old babies carried at least three hours a day in a soft carrier cried and fussed 43 percent less than others overall, and 51 percent less in the evening hours. Another study, published in the journal Child Development in 1990, found that mothers who were given cloth carriers at birth were more responsive to their babies and had babies who were more securely attached than mothers who received plastic infant seats.

“International Babywearing Week is a wonderful time to recognize the advocates who are helping parents learn about and become successful at babywearing,” explained Susie Spence, president of Babywearing International, Inc., the nonprofit organization that coordinates the event.

The Ashtabula WIC program teaches local residents about the benefits of babywearing as well as babywearing safety through its Best Choice attachment parenting class, which is funded by a grant from the Ohio Children’s Trust Fund. The grant allows the program to provide free slings to everyone who attends the class who wants one.

The WIC program also models babywearing by allowing staff to wear their babies at work until around 6-9 months old.

“Educating parents about babywearing and empowering them to do so with free slings is a tremendous benefit to the community,” Spence said, “but I am even more impressed that staff members are modeling babywearing at work. Women all over the world routinely do housework and even agricultural work while babywearing, but it is unusual and very encouraging to hear about women routinely returning to work in an office setting with their babies in slings.”

International Babywearing Week 2009 is being celebrated by nonprofit groups around the world. “We have Official Celebrating Organizations in fifteen countries around the world,” Spence said. The groups are hosting babywearing workshops, photography exhibits, walks, picnics, and other events to raise awareness about babywearing and help parents and caregivers learn babywearing as a skill.

The Award for the Best Babywearing Outreach Program to Women In need is sponsored by Happy Bambino, a boutique and parenting resource center. The Ashtabula WIC program will receive a prize package valued at $200 from Happy Bambino.

International Babywearing Week is supported by funding from presenting sponsor ERGObaby Inc., and general sponsors Moby Wrap, Inc., and DIDYMOS Erika Hoffmann GmbH.